Where you'll find human resources and business development tips, thoughts and best practices!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Managers grumble
about the state of their employees from time to time (shocking, I know). And while there might be lots to complain
about, consider for a moment that the road you’re on is a two-way street. The grumbling is traveling up and down both
sides of the highway. What are your
employees saying about you? Some grumbling going on?

Well, of course,
if that’s happening, then those employees are idiots. Clearly.
I mean, you slave over work, you show up early, stay late, do jobs that
no one notices…you’re a good man/woman.
Don’t these ungrateful leeches see that?

And therein, is
the rub. Maybe they don’t see it
anymore, if ever. Maybe it’s what you
used to do, but you’ve become as complacent as you accuse your team of
being. It’s often subtle. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to
be less dedicated. Rather, you might
have allowed the tiredness of the path traveled to dictate your next
moves. And while it was only to be for a
day, it’s now three months or three years later and the effects are being felt
by your team. They are now responding to
what they’re experiencing.

My long time love,
Molly Ringwald, in Pretty in Pink sits on her bed with Duckie (Jon Cryer). She shares with him her hope that she’s not
the only one who knows how incredible he is.
Duckie’s sad response is “Well, at this point in time, I’m afraid you
are, honey.”

It’s easy to blame
you, right? I mean, you’re the manager
and everything stops with you. Your boss
barges into your office and demands results and explanations. Your staff has been barging in demanding
resources and complaining about you, the team, the work, etc. You have it tough. But you know what? That comes with the territory. You’re a manager. Manage it.

Strong words, but
necessary.

Advancement is
desired. The mainstream talent
management conversation is about succession planning and doing it quickly. 26-year old employees are looking to be CEO
next year, if you believe every article written about it, and you can’t let
that time get away from you to make it happen.
Removing the tongue from the cheek, an active, vibrant talent culture is
one of collaboration, constant improvement and competency assessment and utilization. Bringing less than our “A” game opens a door
for staff to look outside of the department, at the very least, if not outside
of the company.

And while, this
perspective is one for a three-day conference, a realistic first step is to sit
down and ask yourself what you’ve done for your team lately. Don’t allow rose-colored glasses of past
sacrifices and engagements to color what you’re doing (or not doing)
today. I know you were the hero for the
team in 2014, but it’s two years later.
That’s plenty of time to be forgotten, or at least, to be less impactful.

Every day is a day
to crush it. That’s not a pithy
slogan. That’s a business
imperative. The list is long and
depressing of those companies that have closed or are a shell of what they used
to be due to poor management and leadership.
And for almost all of them, what occurred was not a one-day issue. The choices (or lack thereof) made did not
align with the business mandate and were not delivered in a context for staff
to understand.

Manage messaging
as much as process and output. Think
about what you’re doing and act upon it.
While thinking is very important, it isn’t always a visible example to
the team. You sitting at your desk may
not equate to an employee observing to self, “Oh, look at my awesome
manager. She is sitting at her desk
looking at her computer. I bet she’s
considering staff morale and process improvement. She’s so awesome. I’m lucky to have her.” Truth be told, it’s possible that’s what the
manager might be doing at that moment, but it’s hard to know it as an
observer. Balance obnoxious bragging
with informed considerate disclosure in conversation with your team. Fill them in and deliver on what you’ve been
contemplating.

The success of the
past is just that. It’s in the
past. Today, deliver something
else. The responsiveness from your staff
will become what you desire it to be.
You’ll be setting a new tone or recovering a tone that once was. The highway of complaining is replaced by one
of vibrant complimenting. Talent will
know what can be done, who can do it and how it helps the whole.

Get up, hit the
video below, shake your groove thing and think through a plan for
yourself. Today is that day. As Janet says, “Soap opera says you’ve got
one life to live.”